Luxury retailer Nordstrom shocked Canadians when they announced on their fourth quarter earnings call today that they will be closing ALL their Canadian retail stores this summer.
This includes six Nordstrom stores and seven Nordstrom Rack stores, as well as the Nordstrom.ca website, which in its entirety employs around 2,500 people.
With this news, the Milk Bar that just opened inside Nordstrom Pacific Centre in November 2022 will also be in the crosshairs.
Milk Bar is a chain of dessert and bakery restaurants founded by chef Christina Tosi with branches in New York City, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., Boston, Las Vegas, and Toronto.
The Nordstrom Pacific Centre’s Milk Bar is the brand’s first full-service location in Canada and was a big hit in the city when it opened.
“We took decisive actions to right-size our inventory as we entered the new year, positioning us for greater agility amidst continuing macroeconomic uncertainty. We also made the difficult decision to wind down operations in our Canadian business. This will enable us to simplify our operations and further increase our focus on driving long-term profitable growth in our core U.S. business,” said Erik Nordstrom, chief executive officer of Nordstrom, Inc. “As we enter fiscal 2023, we are focused on enhancing the customer experience, improving Nordstrom Rack performance, increasing inventory productivity and continuing to advance our supply chain optimization initiatives. We remain confident in the strength of our brands and our ability to drive profitable growth and deliver long-term value to our shareholders.”
All other food services and restaurant locations part of Nordstrom, including Ebars, will wind down as well. The decision to close all Canadian stores is part of a larger strategy to focus on their US business operations.
The impact of this closure will not only affect employees but also other businesses who relied on Nordstrom’s foot traffic appeal. Many local businesses may suffer from reduced foot traffic in malls where Nordstrom operates.
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